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Thought this was an interesting read. I have a real soft spot for animals. I hope something can be done to save these things.

Polar bears resort to cannibalism as Arctic ice shrinks

* Story Highlights
* Arctic sea ice dwindled to its second lowest level on record, scientists say
* Ice cover helps regulate and temper the climate in many parts of the world
* Group: Polar bears are starving, drowning, resorting to cannibalism
* Scientists believe the Arctic may be ice-free in the summer in five years

By Marsha Walton
CNN

(CNN) -- Summer is over in the northern hemisphere, but it's been another chilling season for researchers who study Arctic sea ice.

"It's definitely a bad report. We did pick up little bit from last year, but this is over 30 percent below what used to be normal," said Walt Meier, a research scientist with the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado.

This past summer, the Arctic sea ice dwindled to its second lowest level. Arctic sea ice is usually 1 to 3 meters, or as much as 9 feet thick. It grows during autumn and winter and shrinks in the spring and summer.

Scientists have monitored sea ice conditions for about 50 years with the help of satellites. Changes in the past decade have been alarming to climate researchers and oceanographers.

"It is the second lowest on record. ... If anything, it is reinforcing the long-term trend. We are still losing the ice cover at a rate of 10 percent per decade now, and that is quite an increase from five years ago," Meier said. "We are still heading toward an ice cover that is going to melt completely in the summertime in the Arctic."

Arctic ice helps regulate and temper the climate in many other parts of the world. The less ice there is, the more dramatic the impact. Huge sheets of ice reflect solar radiation, keeping our planet cool. When that ice melts, huge expanses of darker, open ocean water absorb the heat instead, warming things up.

Although few humans live in the Arctic, the disappearance of this ice cover can have effects far beyond the few residents and the wildlife of this harsh region. Ice cover loss can influence winds and precipitation on other continents, possibly leading to less rain in the western United States and creating more in Europe.

"That warming is going to spread to the lower latitudes, to the United States, and it's going to affect storm systems and storm tracks, the jet stream; that's going to affect crops and all sorts of things," Meier predicted.

So, just how much ice is disappearing?

Less than 30 years ago, there would still be 7 million square kilometers or 2.5 million square miles of ice left at the end of an Arctic summer. That's now dropped by almost 40 percent.

"Seven million square kilometers roughly corresponds to an area of the lower 48 United States. So back in the early 1980s, the lower 48 states would be covered in sea ice in the summer," Meier said. "Now we've essentially lost sea ice east of the Mississippi River and even beyond. So that's a significant amount of area."

The best known consequence of disappearing sea ice in the Arctic is the loss of the polar bear habitat.

"The Arctic sea ice melt is a disaster for the polar bears," according to Kassie Siegel, staff attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity. "They are dependent on the Arctic sea ice for all of their essential behaviors, and as the ice melts and global warming transforms the Arctic, polar bears are starving, drowning, even resorting to cannibalism because they don't have access to their usual food sources."

Scientists have noticed increasing reports of starving Arctic polar bears attacking and feeding on one another in recent years. In one documented 2004 incident in northern Alaska, a male bear broke into a female's den and killed her.

In May, the U.S. Department of Interior listed the polar bear as a "threatened" species under the Endangered Species Act. In a news release, U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne stated, "loss of sea ice threatens and will likely continue to threaten polar bear habitat. This loss of habitat puts polar bears at risk of becoming endangered in the foreseeable future, the standard established by the ESA for designating a threatened species."

What is the future for Arctic sea ice? Some scientists believe that in just five years, the Arctic may be ice-free during the summer.

"The Arctic is kind of the early warning system of the climate," Meier said. "It is the canary in the coal mine, and the canary is definitely in trouble."

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Man, I hate to seem distant,...my dog--who died of cancer last June--was named Polar Bear,...but isn't this just nature taking her course ??

I don't know...something tells me they have been eating each other for a while now.

I think polar bears are cool and all, but if they went extinct, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

T-Rex went away, and it is told that Unicorns roamed the earth before modern recorded time...

Wouldn't this just mean that more seals would have to rest on land and rocks and be easier for the bears to catch and eat? They'll adapt.

I wish there were dragons.

Nah. What's going to happen - mark my words - is this: man made global warming over the past 30 years (and we know it's happened over the past 30 years because 30 years ago we were told that a global ice age was imminent), but, man made global warming over the past 30 years will take precedence over what the earth has done for millions of year.

Polar bears will cease to exist, thereby causing a huge increase in the number of seals. Now, seals only natural predator, other than the polar bear, is an orca. Orcas will, due to the lack of polar bears, over indulge themselves on the bevy of seals just waiting to be eaten. Hence: polar bears will be extinct, and orcas will be too obese to swim after more seals. Consequently, all natural predators of seals will cease to exist - except the inuit - but they don't fit into global warming, so they will be left out of the studies.

These seals, that will exist in overabundance, eat fish. With no natural predators, the seals will eat our oceans dry of any and all fish. Therefore, McDonalds will not have Filet of Fish anymore.

Now, if you will only give money to al gore's save the earth and filet of fish campaign, it can be stopped.

I'm al gore, and I approve this message.

(they figured they had to hit hard at something that would affect the avg. joe - McD's filet o' fish).

Mean while, when this global warming thing doesn't happen, get ready for another ice age - and get ready for gore to tell us he was so successful at stopping global warming that the opposite is going to happen.

And, do all of this while the u.s. economy collapses all around us.

What if the Loch Ness monster went to the ocean and ate all of the Seals?

Yet there is no proof that the ice will not return. Hell they can't give you an accurate weather forcast 7 days into the future. Do you really think they know what is going to happen over the next 50 years

How do you knwo nothing good will come of it, maybe it will make the arctic more inhabitable for humans, and the land under all that ice is extremely fertile, making way for highly beneficial crops for people, as well as giving us more room for the population as we grow?

If I was thirsty in the desert, and I had an ice cube, that ice cube would provide me life saving liquid once it melted.

Reminds me of something about bears I read.

Anytime you go into a area where bears are expected, you should wear a bell or two on your shoes or around your neck. That alerts them you are in the area and usually scares them off. If it doesn't, pepper spray should be used as a backup if they get too curious.

The best way to identify bears if you can't tell by the paw print is to examine their 'scat".....yes...really..

Black Bear scat is easily identified by seeing some undigested berries and the remains of large bugs.

Grizzly Bear scat is easily identified by finding chewed up bells and it will smell like pepper.

And by the time the ice melts, we will have submersible water domes for habitation.

That's what we need! Bear Domes and Bear Bubbles.... like thousands of hamsters in little plastic balls, we can save each and every bear by putting them in a scaled up version of those and let them roll their little way to safety!

Just think about the boost for the cedar chip industry too.

Yeah, but now we're chopping down trees and causing global warming.... and melting ice... it's an inescapable downward spiral.....AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

there will be less millions of ice cubes.

Good point, forgot about all the ice cube mines that will be put out of business.

Do ya think Santa will be spared...oh the thought...

nordawg

Santa's all ready to go

nordawg